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Macedonia offers olive branch to Bulgaria

Alex Bivol — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:51:00 +0200

Under pressure from Brussels on the name issue dispute with Greece, Skopje seeks to re-build relationship with with Sofia.

EC suing Bulgaria for Sofia waste disposal failure

Clive Leviev-Sawyer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:14:00 +0200

The European Commission is taking Bulgaria to court for delays in providing Sofia with adequate waste disposal facilities.

Bulgarian MPs resurrect proposal to raise spirits excise

Alex Bivol — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:58:00 +0200

Strong public opposition to price hikes prompted Prime Minister Boiko Borissov to axe the Finance Ministry proposal to increase the excise duty on spirits, but MPs have put it back on the agenda.

US ambassador-designate Warlick addresses senate confirmation hearing

Gabriel Hershman — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:15:00 +0200

James Warlick is the spouse of Mary Warlick, director of the office of Russian affairs at the US state department, who has been nominated to serve as ambassador to Serbia

Kosovo’s governing coalition breaks up – reports

Clive Leviev-Sawyer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:12:00 +0200

Parties that governed together in Pristina fall out because of their battle in Kosovo’s local government elections.

Bulgaria declares flu epidemic at an end

Clive Leviev-Sawyer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:19:00 +0200

Bulgaria’s Health Ministry announced on November 20 2009 that the flu epidemic declared two weeks earlier is at an end as rates of infection decline. The announcement coincides with reports of two deaths from A (H1N1) flu in Bulgaria.

Bulgarian prosecutors to investigate Dogan’s real estate deals

Clive Leviev-Sawyer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:52:00 +0200

Acting on allegations by Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria leader Ivan Kostov, prosecutors and Government officials are to probe deals by which Movement for Rights and Freedoms leader Ahmed Dogan acquired various properties.

White tigress slaughtered by lions

Gabriel Hershman — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:42:00 +0200

The white tigress is a rare animal resulting from a special recessive gene

Sofia prosecutors charge Bulgaria’s former defence minister Nikolai Tsonev

Clive Leviev-Sawyer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:25:00 +0200

Prosecutors allege that a deal agreed by the former defence minister caused losses of 12.9 million leva.

Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine to form military brigade

Krakow Post — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:11:00 +0200

The agreement was signed in Brussels earlier this week but it's still a long way off before the Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian brigade can be formalized as an international agreement.

Regional fallout from Macedonia name dispute

Clive Leviev-Sawyer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:38:00 +0200

Media reports say that the EU will pressure Athens and Skopje to come up with a solution to the Macedonia name dispute by December 7, or Brussels will take a cooler approach to Macedonia’s EU hopes; while a row breaks out in Belgrade after Serbia’s foreign minister takes sides in the dispute.

Flu slows down Kyiv

Kateryna Grushenko - Kyiv Post — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:17:00 +0200

Affected by quarantine and panic, life in Kyiv has been subdued in the past few weeks.

Big brother

Rene Beekman — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:03:00 +0200

New law grants Interior Ministry greater snooping powers as privacy advocates protest

The city hall relay

Petar Kostadinov — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:02:00 +0200

New Sofia mayor Yordanka Fandukova took the baton from Prime Minister Boiko Borissov

A special purpose base

Tsvetelina Manolova, Panayot Angarev — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:01:00 +0200

Russia’s planned humanitarian base in Serbia could hold deeper strategic interests

Hot and cold

Alex Bivol — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:01:00 +0200

Bulgarian winter resorts expect to sell out during holiday season

Back to the future

Alex Bivol — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:01:00 +0200

Bulgaria’s Cabinet seeks to reverse recent changes in the telecommunications sector

In broad daylight

Gabriel Hershman — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:01:00 +0200

Photographer Doris Peter captured ordinary Sofians after the fall of communism and during ‘the transition’, resulting in a stunning archive of street scenes

Gridlock

The Sofia Echo staff — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:00:00 +0200

Thousands of parking spaces in Sofia await investors

Cash or card?

The Sofia Echo staff — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:00:00 +0200

Bulgarians are getting the hang of debit and credit cards, MasterCard says